The RAnts of RA

Prior to last year I had never heard of Turducken. As the holidays are fast approaching, I find my thoughts are drawn more and more to that luscious mixture of birds.

Turducken is just like it sounds, a taste-tempting mixture of turkey, boneless duck and boneless chicken, complete with corn bread stuffing between each layer of meat. It makes my mouth water, just thinking about it.

Last year a very dear friend and client of ours, sent us a wonderful 15 pound Turducken and to be quite honest, when it arrived, I was less than pleased. For starters there are only three people in our family – it would have taken forever for us to eat a bird of that size. Top that off with the fact that I had never heard of a “Turducken”.

When I found out it was filled with Creole style cornbread stuffing. I was ready to give it away, thank the sender and never mention it again. I am so glad that I don’t always follow my first instincts.

We ended up thawing it out (it comes frozen) and delivering it to the host of our Christmas family dinner. She carefully followed the directions on the package – it was cooked to perfection and I am pleased to report, everyone totally loved it. I must say it was the most creative gift I have ever received for Christmas – not to mention the tastiest.

The Turducken easily fed the twelve of us, with plenty left over for snacks. The bird was moist and tender. The duck portion wasn’t my favorite part but my husband enjoyed every morsal. My favorite part was the stuffing, it was by far the best stuffing I have ever had the opportunity to enjoy. Shhhhhh, don’t tell my mom.

If you are looking for something extra special for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, I highly recommend you try the Turducken. I will be ordering ours soon. What a terrific idea. Who thinks of these things anyway?

Avoid Hidden GMOs for a Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner

No incentive or compensation was received by the author for this review.

Family Heritage

My maiden name is Patrick and I’m hard pressed to let a single St. Patrick’s Day go by without making a big deal of it, it is still to this day one of my favorite holidays.

For many years I claimed Irish as my own heritage. Surely, with a last name like Patrick I must be Irish. You can imagine my dismay when I discovered that I’m actually Scottish. I’ve traced our families heritage back to the Lamont clan in the 1400’s, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

As a child I was convinced that somewhere along the line we were related to royalty. As luck would have it, I haven’t found a royal bone in my body, turns out instead of being heir to a throne, I’ve decended from horse thieves and criminals.

My husband on the other hand is the great-great-great-great-great grandson of Lyman Hall a previous Governor of Georgia and signer of the Declaration of Independence, not to mention being related to William Shakespeare.

Celebrations

Fortunately, you don’t have to be Irish to enjoy the festivities on St. Paddy’s Day. Just don your green beanie or your “Kiss Me if your Irish” button and make your way to one of the many St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Who knows maybe the Luck O’ The Irish will rub off on you or you’ll find that pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow.

St. Paddy’s Day is celebrated the world over, with parades and events taking place in Irish communities in cities around the world. Though many communities have jumped the gun and held their festivities a little early, perhaps to prolong the holiday, we’ve managed to locate 2009 St. Patrick’s Day Parades all over the U.S. and even a few across the globe.

Irish Stew – Pugg Mahones

St. Patrick’s Day Parades & Events

• St. Patrick’s Day Parades
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Boston, Massachusetts
• Dublin, Ireland
• Montreal, Quebec
• Raleigh, North Carolina
• Tokyo, Japan

The first formal celebration of St. Patrick’s Day took place not in Ireland, but in Boston in 1737. It consisted of a dinner attended by wealthy Protestant gentlemen and merchants who had recently come over from Ulster to settle in the colonies. By 1775, the Boston celebration included a march with 70 soldiers from the British Army who were at the time occupying Boston (an interesting note is that exactly 1 year later, in 1776, the British Army was marching again – but in double time – as they were retreating from the city. So in Boston, March 17 holds two causes to celebrate – St Patrick’s Day and Evacuation day.)

The very first St. Patrick’s Day Parade  in the United States was held in New York City in 1766 by a band of homesick Irish ex-patriots. This was during a time when the “Wearin’ O’ The Green” was still a sign of Irish pride that was banned in Ireland.

A parade celebrating the freedom to speak the Irish language, sing Irish songs and play the bagpipes to Irish tunes was very meaningful to the immigrants who had fled their homes at such great cost leaving so much behind. Today modern celebrations in Ireland tend to avoid the green which has come to symbolize the flag that flew during the years that Ireland suffered under British rule!

American’s have a lot in common with the Irish people, which might be perhaps one of the many reasons so many in this country celebrate this joyous holiday.

Related articles

• St. Patrick’s Day: No Better Day to Live Green
• Photo Blog of St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Boston, USA
• Victoria’s Views: Are Irish Americans actually Irish?
• Celebrating St. Patrick: A Cook’s Guide
• Dreaming of Ireland